Party on ice for Steve

WORLD Championship celebrations for Formby’s Steve Hallam, head of race engineering with McLaren-Mercedes have been put on ice following Lewis Hamilton’s dramatic exit from the Chinese Grand Prix last Sunday, writes Steve Hirst.

WORLD Championship celebrations for Formby’s Steve Hallam, head of race engineering with McLaren-Mercedes have been put on ice following Lewis Hamilton’s dramatic exit from the Chinese Grand Prix last Sunday, writes Steve Hirst.

On the brink of winning the Drivers’ title in his rookie season, Hamilton ended his race in a gravel trap on the entrance to the pitlane seconds before a stop to change badly worn tyres.

Hamilton’s retirement left his teammate, double world champion Fernando Alonso, to finish the race in second place and narrow the gap in the title chase to just four points.

The anticipated party for Steve and the team could still be thwarted by former McLAren star Kimi Raikkonen, the race winner in China for Ferrari.

The Flying Finn now has 100 points and is still in contention to rob the McLaren duo - Hamilton (107 points) or Alonso (103) - of the coveted crown as the series reached its climax in Brazil on Sunday week (October 21).